A teen fighting cancer was ‘transformed’ from having zero energy into someone ‘laughing and joking again, like a different person,’ after a blood transfusion.
Rory McGrath said his son James, 18, is “a hero” to him and his mum Celine as he copes with Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma treatment after his diagnosis last July.
James, who was due to start college last September, has had two different types of chemotherapy and it’s hoped he will be through the main part of his treatment programme by March.
Rory said: “It was hard to look at him in pain and vomiting and losing his hair. But whenever I would be in the ward, we would be laughing and having the craic.
“Even though he might have been tired or down, he would have a laugh and I’m sure this was to make myself and his mam feel that it wasn’t that bad.
“James had to face this horrendous disease and had to cope with things no child his age, or any age, should have to.
“James is a special kid and has a strength I have never witnessed before.”
Covid-19 meant that no friends or extended family could visit him and Rory said: “I used to worry about what he might be thinking at night.
“It has kept me awake at night, but his courage when we were with him made it easier for us.
“We would be talking about past times, messing and joking.
“James made it easier for everyone to cope with him being sick.
“With all he had to do, he looked after us and that’s why he is a hero to me and his mother.”
The teen, from Navan, Co Meath, attends Tallaght Hospital and during the three days in hospital for each chemotherapy session, he takes 25 tablets a day.
On the first day, “he gets woken up every two hours for vital checks; he is tired but can’t sleep due to the chemical cocktail that’s in him,” Rory said.
The intense treatment continues for the following two days and leaves him being unable to eat for up to 36 hours.
Throughout his stints in hospital, Rory said that James is “made human again and transformed with blood transfusions”.
“I can’t highlight this enough: the blood is almost like an adrenaline shot.
“He could be frail and pale and zero energy after being zapped of all the life in him due to the trials he’s been through.
“Then the blood comes, and it takes about 30 mins to get into him.
“Do you remember ‘Back to the Future’ when Marty McFly is starting to fade away while he’s playing the guitar and then George McFly kisses Marty’s mother?
“Next Marty shoots up off the ground and is back to normal. Well, the effect of a blood transfusion is something like that; James is transformed by the transfusion.
“He can eat again, he has colour in his face, he’s laughing and joking again, like a different person.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to support James after his treatment at https://www.gofundme.com/f/jamess-fight-full-pelt-at-hodgkins-lymphoma.
James said: “I’d like to thank everyone who has donated and all the workers in Tallaght Hospital.
“People have been nothing but kind to me and hopefully I’ll be through this soon.
“I appreciate everything that people have done and will keep up the good fight until all of this is over.”
